Judge upholds $20.7M wrongful death verdict, tosses lifeguard company’s retrial request

Adam Wubit loved watching the NFL with his dad.

On game days, he and Zerihun would cheer on their beloved Washington Commanders.

But everything changed the afternoon of Aug. 24, 2018 when 41-year-old Zerihun drowned while vacationing in Myrtle Beach.

Kickoffs are now a painful reminder of his father’s absence. When Adam does decide to watch a game, he’s surrounded by memorabilia Zerihun gave him.

One of Adam’s younger sisters refused to put new paint on her bedroom wall because it would have covered a coat that Zerihun applied.

The emotional toll of Wolde’s death on his family were among the reasons 15th Circuit Judge Kristi Curtis this week upheld a $20.7 million civil verdict against Lack’s Beach Service, which was found liable last summer in the Maryland man’s death.

In April 10 judgments, Curtis tossed requests by Lack’s legal team for a retrial and declined to overrule the jury’s conclusions, which awarded Wolde’s estate $10 million in wrongful death damages, $7 million in punitive damages and $3.7 million in survival damages.

“In challenging the propriety of the jury’s damages award, LBS points to no concrete basis to suggest the award was motivated by anything but the evidence. LBS’s attempt to challenge this jury’s award by cherry picking various verdicts in other wrongful death cases is equally unavailing,” Curtis wrote.

Chris Pracht, an attorney representing Wolde’s estate, was not immeidately available for comment April 12.

Jurors ruled last July a “dual role” model used by Lack’s allowing it to profit from beach chair and umbrellas rentals in exchange for lifeguards along sections of Myrtle Beach oceanfront was to blame for Wolde’s death, and awarded his estate $21 million in damages - the fifth highest wrongful death verdict in South Carolina’s history.

In harsh language, Curtis said the widely debunked “dual role” system posed a known safety risk that Lack’s failed to address for nearly a decade.

“LBS was willful and reckless in committing standard of care violations it knew posed a serious and life threatening public safety risks,” Curtis wrote.

Lack’s, which provides coverage on public beaches in Horry County and Myrtle Beach, is abandoning the dual role model after leaders from both jurisdictions voted to amend franchise agreements with the company starting this year.

Hours after Curtis’s ruling, Lack’s attorneys filed a motion with the state Court of Appeals asking for a review and stay of execution to delay payment.